Jim Chanos
Scott Mill | CNBC
Prominent short seller Jim Chanos calls a lawsuit accusing him of misappropriating funds for personal use “false, baseless and defamatory.”
Chanos made the statement to CNBC’s Scott Wapner in response to allegations from former investors in Chanos’ company.
Conlon Holdings, a Chicago company run by Sean Conlon, filed a lawsuit in New York state court on Friday, accusing Chanos of using his company as a “piggy bank” from which he borrowed more than $10 million. Outstanding loans.
“As Mr. Conlon is aware, the internal loan was repaid in 2021 and I have invested more than $30 million in the company since 2019,” Chanos said in the statement. “In fact, all of my management All partners in the firm have lost money over the past few years, none more so than me, and Mr. Conlon is simply seeking to mitigate his own losses through this crude attempt at extortion.”
Conlon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chanos, best known for calling for the collapse of energy trading company Enron, closed his hedge fund late last year and transformed it into a family office and consulting firm. His decision comes after years of underperformance in which short bets, including on Tesla, didn’t work.
The lawsuit also claims that Chanos sold his Miami condo, officially owned by Chanos’ company, for $17.8 million earlier this month without giving advance notice to his partners. Meanwhile, the lawsuit alleges that Chanos’ girlfriend, Crystal Conners, was the sales agent on the deal, which would have brought in $540,000 at standard commission rates.
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